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Rolling into Stone Motorsport

We, as people, naturally ponder the notion of ‘What If?’ on a daily basis. Its a natural instinct to imagine the endless possibilities available to us through means or good fortune. How many time today alone have you thought what you would splurge significant financial winnings on should you ever strike lucky?? Car forums and online chats are littered with discussion on what car would you put in the garage first should a lottery windfall come your way, and I’m just the same as everyone else in that regard. But for more hardened car geeks, the what if fantasies grow larger. What would the dream car look like, what colour would you go for and where would you keep it?? See, that’s real addiction territory when you have notions of a dream garage to keep your dream car, but some people have already ticked off the ultimate garage section. Welcome to Stone Motorsport!

In keeping with all good Irish motoring stories, to find the rewards you first have to battle against your natural instincts in the search. I’d seen plenty of photo’s online of this legendary facility, yet here I was less than a few hundred yards from our country’s busiest Motorway and Google Maps was guiding me down a dark, tight tree-lined lane with cul-de-sac warnings. I had expected Stone Motorsport to exist in a modern Industrial Park on the outskirts of a growing slice of modern suburbia, but here all that lay between me and a slice of motoring heaven was about a mile of distinctly Irish back road.

To understand the drive to become the best, its worth remembering the history behind the crew in Stone’s. The brother’s rose to predominance in the Irish track scene in the mid-00’s when they began to dominate the time-attack and racing landscape in their EP-3 Honda Civic. Brendan Stone then turned his hand to drifting, and in the process became an Irish Champion in the MG-Crash Repair Nissan S15, all the while honing the skills needed to develop a home-grown motorsport preparation company.

The first thing that hit’s you on arrival is the sheer scale of the premises. The imposing grey exterior grows in all directions, housing all manner of necessary area’s to provide true one-stop-shop status for all your wildest car build idea’s. Walking through the main door though, it’s to the showroom to the right that your eye is immediately drawn.

Emulating those of the finest classic car dealers in the world, the showroom is a triumph of style and lighting, serving as the perfect compliment to the metal inside. I count nine cars, some in bare metal, some mid-build and some finished perfectly. Up close, the attention to detail and craftsmanship is stunning. I could spend hours soaking in the details on the Mini Cooper, early Beetle or pair of 911’s on their own, but in close vicinity the scene is almost overwhelming.

In the corner, a hulking 1960’s Ford Mustang sits in primer, a bare shell destined for a full scale restoration to leave it on a par with it’s shinier room mates.

From here though, my rally geek instincts kick in. I have a huge affinity for vehicles carrying the Ford Escort moniker, and this green car was utterly stunning. Even in a partially built state, it’s muscular stance commanded utmost attention. A beefy set of 15 inch Superlites hid a frighteningly aggressive brake setup, while the gusseted roll cage was just another example of the fabrication skills available in house. What will reside under the bonnet is a mystery, but with the history Stone’s have for experimentation, your guess is as good as mine!

And then there was the ‘other’ Escort. In a very bare state here lies a true piece of motorsport history, and a very unknown one at that. When Ford developed the MK3 Escort in the early 1980’s, they moved with the times and converted their platform to Front-Wheel-Drive. While this makes sense in the real world of sensibility and economy, it doesn’t have much mass in the world of Rallying. At the same time that the Ford works team in Boreham worked on tweaking the MK3 into a RWD Group B monster with the RS1700T project, their fabrication partner Gartrac produced a small number of RWD converted MK3’s for rallying, and the Escort G3 was born. As an interesting side, the earliest cars were run by Sydney Meeke Preperation, with Sydney’s son Kris being the current WRC superstar! While many Escorts were later converted, seeing an original Gartrac car is a rare treat.

While one race car can peak the interest of a certain crew, the other, more complete, race car in the room is known to a lot more people. When you have your dream garage built and all the skills to build the best possible vehicles, it’s only fitting to have a shop Demo-Car, and they don’t come more extreme than the Drift Taxi! Built from a Lexus GS300, the car makes do with a 2JZ engine making close to 600BHP while turbo’s pop and bang on full chat. A unique vehicle with bucket seats and harnesses for four, the car has also this year crossed the divide and not only competed in the IDC, but now also competes in the Irish Hillclimb championship, which we mentioned earlier this year.

The reason I called into Stone’s was due to the open house they had put on for the AutoStadt.ie Rolling Road event. Having an on-site four wheel dyno is a huge weapon in the arsenal, and the perfect setting to allow the masses to come and not only fettle highly strung race cars but to prove the worth of their road cars on days like this. AutoStadt is Irelands leading German car forum, which explained the high proliferation of Volkswagen and Audi fare on display, both on the rollers and outside. Results varied, people bragged and everyone seemed in good spirits, while masking the now in-built desire to get their cars even quicker and more powerful!

Around the workshop area, 3 full size booths were occupied by even more race cars. The Toyota Soarer ran a similar engine set-up to the Taxi and looked set-up for sideways action, while the E30 next to it, belonging to a well known member of the Hillclimb family, housed the beating heart of an M5 under the hood.

In the distance, it felt like the craziest goodies were out of reach our eyes. A beautifully restored RS500 Ford Sierra lay as the bouncer, the single most fitting car to exude aggression and control stopping any wandering minds from seeing what lay beyond. So, if ever you feel like having that what if moment of contemplation, always remember that there are possibilities out there. The Stone Motorsport crew have taken the idea of creating the perfect garage, and through sheer determination they now call home one of the countries finest automotive facilities.